Toxins 101: Items to be careful with around pets

We all know there are many items out there that are toxic to our pets. Most of us know of the common ones like Chocolate and Onions. But there are many others too! Here is a list of a few items that many are not aware of.

Mothballs:

As mice and rats come into the house to stay warm, so do moths! Mothballs may look benign, but can be quite dangerous as they typically contain chemicals such as paradichlorobenzene or naphthalene. The classic smell of mothballs is typically due to “old-fashioned" mothballs that contain naphthalene, and these are generally much more toxic than the paradichlorobenzene-containing ones.

While the majority of mushrooms are benign and only result in minor symptoms when ingested, there are a few types that can be deadly (even to humans!) when ingested. Because mushroom identification is so difficult, we err on the side of caution and assume any mushroom ingested by a pet is toxic. The most dangerous type are The Amanita mushroom.